Mendy and Yoel Levy bravely fled the Lev Tahor cult in Guatemala at the young ages of 16 and 15 seven years ago. Since then, they have dedicated themselves to exposing the abuse within Lev Tahor, including medical neglect and malnutrition, and even the death of babies as a result of the poor conditions.
Their father, Yehoshua Levy, z’l, passed away seven and a half years ago in Guatemala. According to the sons, his death was caused by the denial of necessary medical treatment.
On the cruel orders of then-Lev Tahor leader Nachman Helbrans, who is currently serving a prison sentence in the US for kidnapping and child abuse, their ailing father was only taken to the hospital when he was already on the verge of death and it was too late to save him. After his death, he was buried in a forest not far from the huts where the cult families lived.
Time and again, the Levy brothers risked their lives by returning to Guatemala. Their relentless efforts played a key role in exposing the cult and disrupting its financial support.
More recently, Yoel stepped up his efforts to rescue his family—his mother, stepfather and nine children—including two toddlers and a baby. Eight months ago, after the authorities in Guatemala raided the cult compound and transferred all the minors to a welfare facility, Yoel flew to Guatemala and did everything he could to free his family and bring them back to Israel.
He provided testimony to the police and welfare authorities, including showing them video footage he had obtained of the children inside the compound before being rescued, appearing beaten, bruised and dressed in rags. He explained to the authorities about the poor conditions the children suffered in the cult, including receiving no dental or medical treatment, no vaccinations, and a diet consisting of only fruit and vegetables. He described how the cult leaders forced teens as young as 13 or 14 to get married and have children and convinced them to record testimony from one of the minor couples.
The minor couple shocked the welfare authorities by revealing that over the past five years, at least nine babies died, both before and after birth, due to the lack of nutrition and the young ages of the teen mothers.
During this time, the welfare services decided to search for the babies buried within the cult’s compound. Sniffer dogs were brought to the site and uncovered the graves. A welfare official told the local media that the dogs discovered the graves quickly because they were fresh.
Yoel was joined in his efforts to rescue his family by Arieh Spiner, a fellow cult survivor. Spiner, whose mother moved from Israel to join Lev Tahor (in Canada) when he was 14, later rebelled against the cult and moved back to Israel 20 years ago. Spiner was the first to expose the cult’s abuse to the media, which led to their expulsion from Canada. Over the years, he worked to raise public awareness about the cult through numerous media interviews, advocacy on social networks, and lectures.
Arieh met Yoel after he fled the cult, and the two realized they were now bound by family ties, as Yoel’s mother had remarried to Arieh’s brother, meaning that he was now Yoel’s stepfather, and Arieh was Yoel’s step-uncle.
About seven months ago, a month after the Guatemalan authorities raided the Lev Tahor compound and took away the children, Arieh’s brother contacted him and told him he had left the cult, but his children were still in the welfare facility.
Arieh flew to Guatemala, where he joined Yoel in efforts to free their family members, aiding Yoel’s mother and stepfather in providing documentation to the Guatemalan welfare authorities that they have a place to move to and financial assistance to properly care for their children. After the authorities allowed the parents to regain custody of their children, they arranged their move back to Israel.
About a week ago, the family arrived safely in Israel. “I am happy to rediscover my brother again after 20 years and happy to meet all my new nephews,” Arieh said. “They are expecting a long rehabilitation journey, but after what they have been through, I am sure that they will come out strong.I want to say that everything is possible if you believe it and try to accomplish it, and that one can overcome and flourish even from the worst things.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
So they went off the derech, and YWN supports this?
I stand with LevTahor
Go join them!
@doom777. I met Yoel a while back. I dont know what he’s doing behind closed doors, but he was frum like everyone else. Idk why you assumed that he’s OTD, but it says a lot about your character.
no one in lev tahor is being accused of doing any aveiras. what was the big “evil”? vegetarian diet? no vaccines? marriage at 14 years old?
So, this article is supporting the mosrim who leverage non-Jewish authorities to break up families and communities?
I remember seeing one askan crying on video about how horrible Lev Tahor is because they teach “don’t show a baby TOO MUCH love”! Is this really the story, or is it something else….
Say what you want, but not one member of Lev Tahor is over-weight. At Lev Tahor, therecis no need for Ozempic. And these brothers who escaped, true they have freedom but with it, they now have an obesity problem.
“So they went off the derech, and YWN supports this? I stand with LevTahor”
LT does not believe in Torah sheBaal Peh. They have their own interpretation.
They are apikorsim.
Is that really who you want to stand with?
one cannot be more of the darech than lev tumah
they are the modern day kareteem,misyavnem etc…
OFF
@doom777 where does it say that?
And also, since when was being in lev tahor considering being on the derech?
Who is more despicable & reprehensible:-
1) Lev Tahor?
2) Naturei Karta?
3) Moreinu HoRav Eliezer Berland?
@doom777 on your rushed assumption that because they’re not obviously wearing a kippa, then they must have dropped halacha too, if they did go off the derech it would be because of the abuse and trauma suffered through this cult in which they were indoctrinated to believe was Torah Yahadus, when in fact it was a different religion masquerading as Yiddishkeit.
It’s entirely unsurprisingly (although no less tragic) that LT escapees lose their kappels when they lose their identity by escaping the horrors of this cult in which they were imprisoned since birth.
If there was ever a modern-day literal tinok shenishbo, the children of Lev Tahor are it.